...And the conversation somehow drifted to 'Al Tishali Oti'. Declared one blogger, "If I was the sabra, I wouldn't post so cryptically'. "If I was the sabra", said another, "I wouldn't use so many Hebrew & Yiddish words." Another blogger chimed in, "If I owned 'Al Tishali Oti', I would be more consistent with colors n content." "I wouldn't be sarcastic to commenters", muttered another, darkly. One blogger added not. "I have nothing to say, for 'To know the sabra is to be the sabra'."

Friday, February 28, 2014

Heart hurts
Tears run
Don't cry, father!
Eyes piercing
Throat catching
Pain terrible pain
Pain for self, for us, for G-d.
Now I'm in pain
I see you like this
I shut my eyes but
open is my heart
and I want to see your joy
I want to see your smile and your laugh
Your eyes so bright and blue twinkling
with connection.
We need warmth but good warmth.
We need Moshiach now.
I'm sick of talk, of responsibility, of work.
I'm sick of waiting, of loss, of despair.
I want, we want, to curl up in cozy security
We want to relish, sit back, happy sighs
And bask
Bask in the light, the glory, the truth
Bask in the beginning of a wonderful new world.
Bask in the day where we'll be with the Rebbe and the Rebbe will be with us and we'll all see Hashem clearly and there will only be clear and revealed goodness and happiness and we'll all do the right thing and everyone will feel guided and children will feel loved and accepted and there will be overflowing cups of health and gratitude and Torah learning.
Lechaim!

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

A German nursing home has come up with a novel idea to stop Alzheimer's patients from wandering off: a phantom bus stop.

By Harry de Quetteville in Berlin

12:35PM BST 03 Jun 2008

The bus stop, in front of the Benrath Senior Centre in the western city of Düsseldorf, is an exact replica of a standard stop, with one small difference: buses never stop there.

The idea emerged after the centre was forced to rely on police to retrieve patients who wanted to return to their homes and families but had forgotten that in many cases neither existed any longer.

"If we can’t find them then we have to alert the police,” said Benrath's director Richard Neureither. “It can be particularly dangerous if this happens in winter and they spend the night out in the cold.”

Without powers to detain patients, he said, Benrath had been forced to look for other solutions.

“We cannot and must not run after people and lock them up,” said Mr Neureither.

Instead, Benrath home teamed up with local care association called the 'Old Lions'. They went to the Rheinbahn transport network which was happy to provide the bus stop to nowhere.

“It sounds funny,” said Old Lions Chairman Franz-Josef Goebel, “but it helps. Our members are 84 years-old on average. Their short-term memory hardly works at all, but the long-term memory is still active. They know the green and yellow bus sign and remember that waiting there means they will go home.” The result is that errant patients now wait for their trip home at the bus stop, before quickly forgetting why they were there in the first place.

“We will approach them and say that the bus is coming later today and invite them in to the home for a coffee,” said Mr Neureither. “Five minutes later they have completely forgotten they wanted to leave.” The idea has proved so successful that it has now been adopted by several other homes across Germany.

Monday, February 24, 2014

I can't handle the sirens they're making me cry I dont even want to put in punctuation to make sense of htis mess or to fix my spellng mistakes because life is just too shattered right now to try to fix and make sense
the tires screeching make me jump and the sirens screaming make me cry and every time i think i'm fine, a traffic noise shows me i'm not.
i learned torah and that helped me feel safe and i think i ought to learn some more but every time the sirens wail my soul wails once again
i hate the sound of the police
i hate the sound of hte sirens
i hate the sound of trucks backing up
i can barely write these words but i need to say them
i cant burden everyone else anymore
i used to be okay with that, used to think i had to share with everyone or else it wouldn't be real but now i dont feel that now i want people to feel good and happy and let the world laugh and glide by we dont need freakin mourners we need happiness and smiles and help and friendship

That makes me feel a bit better. Those words are happy words.

maybe the screeching and the sirens is takkeh a fear, not just a sadness. i dont know hwat it is. i can just go to sleep and we'll deal wtih this in the morning. or we wont have to.maybe i'll feel all better. maybe all the Jews will feel better because moshiach will come before dawn. it's been dark enough for long enough. AD MOSAI?!?!?!??!?!??????????

BRING US MOSHIACH NOW!!!!!! DO IT FOR YOURSELF, TOO, SWEET FATHER IN HEAVEN!!!

Ever since the death of my brother seven years ago, I have been grappling with the concept of the soul. I wish I could believe in it. I am the type that needs rational arguments to convince me, and it seems the soul is too abstract for my mind. I know these things can't be scientifically proven, but do I have to resort to blind faith to believe in the soul?

Answer:

The pain of losing a loved one is so deep because it is so final. You can never replace a person whom you have lost.

But what if you could?

Imagine it were possible to clone your late brother. A genetically identical replica could be created who talks, thinks, looks and smells precisely the same as the person you grew up with. Furthermore, what if scientists developed a way to preserve and replicate memory? They could take your late brother's memories and insert them into his clone. You could sit with your newly recreated brother and reminisce about childhood experiences and laugh at the good old days, sharing a bond that only brothers can.

Would you opt for this? Would you be satisfied with an exact copy of your brother? Would his death be reversed when you met his clone? Would it end your pain?

I can't imagine the answer could be yes. I can't imagine anyone would truly believe that a clone could replace a brother or sister, son or daughter, parent or spouse or best friend.

But why not? Why would a refurbished model be any different from the original?

Because something is missing. This is not your brother. He may have your brother's voice and your brother's expressions, your brother's manner and mind and memory, but he doesn't have your brother's soul. It just isn't him.
That's what soul is. It is what makes you, you. It is the fragment of G‑d that makes each one of us unique. Above your body, beyond your personality, transcending genetics and even deeper than memory is the core of your being, the ineffable essence that is you. We call this your soul. It is soul that makes each person irreplaceable. And it is your brother's soul that you miss.

You don't need scientific proof of the soul, neither do you need blind faith. You know it to exist just as you know your own existence. You can choose to ignore it, or to remember it constantly. Sometimes you can even feel it. And at those moments when you feel your soul, you will feel your brother's soul too.

What is a sabra?
A sabra is a form of cactus, Opuntia ficus-indica, that grows extensively in Israel.
The fruit of the sabra has a thick peel with a sharp spine and is covered in prickly thorns. Once the rough and deterring exterior is peeled away, however, you will reach the contrasting sweet pulp.
Authentic Israelis are often referred to as "sabras" because they tend to be outwardly tough and coarse, but once you get to know them they really are a soft, sweet and sensitive people.